ok see the thing is that although i like the ramones and all ALL THERE RECORDS ARE THE SAME so you dont have to put them all! rocket to russia, or the ramones leave home, or end of the century, or selftitle, we just need one silly! the shape of punk to come, while a good listen, is far from essential. same with bikini kill (tho u might feel differently i guess). same thing with gang of four, fugazi, atomizer and the two buzzcocks lp's you included. i mean thats all real good stuff, but not ESsENTIAL, wouldn't u agree? id only put pink flag (already mentioned by moi) in the must hear's, altho again almost every wire record is a winner. live at the witch trial and this nation's saving grace are both great, hard to say which one i like better, and obviosuly they are very different as well. as for devo, well that should have been mine! most def essential

but screaching weasel? social distortion? pere ubu? the misfits?! these guys are faaaar from essential, whether you like them or not. and as for machine gun etiquette, the damned are a one-trick pony, and damneddamneddamned is clearly all you need.

Well the name of the thread is "Punk rock albums that should be heard at least once in your life," not "Punk rock essentials." I thought the idea was to list punk albums that people owe it to themselves to listen to at least once. In that respect, I think my list was rather good, especially considering how many albums have already been listed. If we were to only stick with essentials here, the thread would stagnate pretty quickly.

Now if you want to discuss essentials... I understand what you're saying about the Ramones. If we were to stick with "necessities" I'd say their first LP and that's it. But I think it's important to have the first four. They all sound similar, true, but each one is a classic with several classic songs. Gang of Four - I disagree, I definitely think Entertainment is essential. Fugazi, you're right - as good as it is, Steady Diet isn't essential. Big Black's Atomizer - same. Buzzcocks, right, those aren't essentials (Singles Going Steady is the essential Buzzcocks purchase.) Sorry, I overlooked your mention of Pink Flag. I do think those other Wire albums are important, but they would probably fit better in a list of essential post-punk albums - which is like a whole 'nother thread. And recent stuff like Bikini Kill and Refused aren't essential, you're right.

The Misfits... OK, possibly not essential for most punk collections, but that's only because your generic punker doesn't get off on horror imagery and things that go bump in the night. I do like these things, and I could not live without my Misfits albums. I think the Misfits deserve at least an asterix on a list of punk rock essentials.

Anyways, I always like hearing your opinions on things camilojoe, and I find myself agreeing with what you have to say most of the time. Later.

I don't see how someone who put Nirvana on their list has any place to claim that Screeching Weasel or Social D doesn't belong on a list of great punk bands/albums(but that's just me). I don't understand how a person can say that my favorite punk albums are wrong; thats why they are mine and not yours. However, to say that the Damned are a "one-trick pony" is probably the stupidest thing I have ever heard. Considering that the Damned had major lineup and sound changes in their first 10 years kind of takes any possibility of them sounding the same or writing similar stuff. As far as Machine Gun Etiquette over Damned Damned Damned is concerned I think the band did much better with Captain Sensible on guitar than on bass.

Also I don't think anyone has mentioned the Adicts yet on here; and they should have been on the first list.

No, I'm not jokin about Agnostic Front, Rancid, or Lars & The Bastards. Although Lars & The Bastards isn't really necessary. Even if they are poppunk, you should still have heard them at least once.

well i didnt say that they dont have to be your favorites, i mean if you want you can put britney spears on the top of your favorites list, right next to boston, im just saying that they shouldnt be heard once by everyone. you can love then, and ill be honest i do have a thing for social distortion, but i dont think that they are up there with x-ray spex or the dead boys by any longshot. as for the damned, its just that i find that their blockhead punkrawk was great... for one record. they just never seem to get too far beyond the sum of their influences. and the best of their albums is damneddamneddamned. machinegun ettiquette is fine too, but i just dont like some of the songs on it, and an album with a couple of throwaway tunes isnt really worth everyone hearing.

as for the adicts, i wholeheartedly agree with adding them in... just dont get carried away and start throwing in shit like GBH and the exploited, PLEASE

o yeah i forgot someone mentioned 60's punk. YES! the compilations pebbles, battle of the bands, and of course nuggets are all classic punk slabs.

Here are some more punk albums that should be listened to at least once, but have not been mentioned yet. I can't say that I enjoy all of them personally, but I'm glad that I heard them...

Sticky Fingers "Inflammable Materials"
The Wipers "Is This Real?"
T.S.O.L. "T.S.O.L."
Richard Hell & the Voidoids "Blank Generation" (which i personally don't like)
Flipper "Album: Generic Album"

Also, I created a new "Punk in the 60s (Garage Rock)" thread in the Punk section. Go check it out.

well i dont know about t.so.l, and the wipers.... but inflammable material that is so good it should have been mine! yeah blank generation was mentional already

bah! what about combat rock? i'm sorry but listing sandinista as a better album than combat rock is pure blasphemy....however, i'm just...one man...and thats just my opininion...if you think combat rock is not worthy of mention than boo hiss....but i respect your opinion

camilojoe what are you talking out of your ass? Pere Ubu not essintial when you got practicly the rest of the New York scene there. The Dead Boys are on your list for ****s sake and Cheetah Chrome, Johnny Blitz, AND Stiv Bators were in Rocket From the Tombs with Dave Thomas and Peter Laughner (From Pere Ubu). Pere Ubu was hitting up Max's Kansas City as early as 76 and were a staple in the New York scene for many years. If you exclude them you might as well exclude the Heartbreakers, the Voidoids, and the Dead Boys as well.